> I use Lua every day, and work with abstract syntax trees. I mess this up all. the. time.
I think this is the clincher in your argument (rather than Djikstra). I only use languages with 0-based indexing, and it seems natural to me, but I could almost be convinced that if only I used 1-based indexing regularly then I'd be fine with it too. But here you are with actual experience of using 1-based indexing regularly and you don't feel that way, which blows that idea out of the water.
I think this is the clincher in your argument (rather than Djikstra). I only use languages with 0-based indexing, and it seems natural to me, but I could almost be convinced that if only I used 1-based indexing regularly then I'd be fine with it too. But here you are with actual experience of using 1-based indexing regularly and you don't feel that way, which blows that idea out of the water.